1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer-readable recording medium storing an information search program, an information search method, and an information search system, and more particularly to a computer-readable recording medium storing an information search program for searching for desired files, and an information search method and system for searching for desired files.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent increase in the capacity and service life of an HDD (hard disk drive) installed in a PC (Personal Computer), it has been possible to store a large amount of files in the PC. On the other hand, with the increase in the number of files stored in the PC, it has been difficult to orderly arrange and identify the files stored in the PC, which results in an increase in the cost of conducting a file search.
To eliminate this inconvenience, various file search methods have been proposed for searching for desired files. For example, search methods have been proposed in which associations between files and situations (contexts) in which the respective files are used are recorded, and in conducting a file search, desired files are searched for based on the recorded associations by making use of the contexts in which the desired files were used (see e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-207263, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-256087). More specifically, there have been proposed, for example, a search method based on a so-called directory type search, in which files are registered (stored) in folders on a category (field)-by-category (field) basis, and files are searched for using the name of each folder as a guide, and a search method using the event-recording function of a Web browser, in which time periods during which each file was used are set to contexts and the contexts are made use of to find a file.
However, the search method based on the directory type search suffers from the problem that the determination of an association between a context and a file is carried out by a registrant, and hence the operation for determining the association imposes a large burden on the registrant. Further, the registrant determines only during registration whether or not an association exists, and hence an association which becomes important afterwards cannot be considered. Moreover, when categories of files overlap each other, files are sometimes stored in different folders. This can eventually cause omission of files to be searched, which makes it impossible to necessarily search for and find desired files.
Further, in the method in which time periods during which each file was used are set to contexts, it is generally difficult for the user to remember dates and times at which files were used, and hence it is not easy to designate a context for designating desired files (usage times of the desired files).